ITC Ruling That BDT Customers Infringe Claims of Overland Partitioning Patent

Overland Storage, Inc. announced that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has released a Notice of Commission Decision in the infringement action filed by Overland Storage against IBM, Dell and BDT.

Overland Storage previously reported that the ITC and District Court actions against IBM and Dell had been resolved by settlement.

The Notice of Commission Decision makes several key findings regarding Overland Storage’s U.S. Patent No. 6,328,766, which relates to partitioning media elements in automated media devices, and Overland Storage’s U.S. Patent No. 6,353,581, which relates to the "mail slot" feature in automated media devices.

Several key takeaways
from the Notice of Commission Decision are:

• The Commission decided not to revisit the decision by Chief Administrative Law Judge Charles Bullock that BDT’s customers directly infringe every ‘766 patent claim asserted by Overland Storage. ALJ Bullock’s infringement findings are therefore final in the ITC.
• The Commission remanded certain aspects of ALJ Bullock’s validity findings on the ‘766 patent claims for further consideration, but all claims asserted by Overland Storage against BDT remain valid. The next decision by ALJ Bullock is expected by the end of the year.
• The Commission’s ruling strengthens Overland Storage’s claims related to the ‘581 patent by reaffirming the validity findings by ALJ Bullock and making additional findings related to infringement of that patent.

"We are pleased with the Commission’s findings. We welcome the opportunity to continue to prove the validity of our claims on the ‘766 patent, and we are quite happy with the findings related to the ‘581 patent. Innovation is the driving force of technology companies, and the ability to create and protect their intellectual property is critical to companies as they develop new products and protect existing assets," said Eric Kelly, president and CEO of Overland Storage. "With an extensive portfolio of additional patents that have been granted, our IP portfolio will assist us in continuing to shape the future of the data management and data protection markets for years to come."

Overland Storage lead attorney Sean Cunningham, partner at DLA Piper LLP, commented: "This decision by the full Commission is another step in the process of proving that BDT and others in the data storage industry have been using Overland Storage’s intellectual property without permission. Overland Storage will continue to enforce its intellectual property rights against those who choose to violate them."

Represented by DLA Piper LLP (US), Overland Storage previously reported that it filed additional lawsuits on June 28, 2012 claiming infringement of one or both of the Overland Storage patents involved in the ITC case against BDT. Those lawsuits name as defendants Quantum Corporation; Spectra Logic Corporation; PivotStor, Inc.; Qualstar Corporation; Tandberg Data GmbH; Tandberg Data Corp.; and Venture Corporation Limited. In addition to a royalty for its patented inventions, Overland seeks to prevent each of the defendants from using its patented technologies in the United States. Upon completion of the ITC case, Overland Storage plans to pursue monetary damages against BDT in district court.

Read also:
Notice of U.S. International Trade Commission on Tape Libraries
Investigation concerning BDT, Dell, IBM and Overland